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I did not know Milwaukee had a beer week. Why is it not a month...? When one has a thirst there is nothing so quenching as a quaffing down a fine fermented brew. Hail to the brew meisters...I think I am feeling a thirst coming on right now....!!..

Brewing your own is awesome fun and flavor. And its easy and tastes better than, yes, even New Glarus. The Ale Asylum in Madison is pretty awesome in itself. It gives me a run for my money. But then again, I love beer.................!

Beer Week is nothing but a marketing promotion by Beechwood Sales & Service, New Berlin, WI, the distributor of AB-InBev products, or Budweiser. The principal of Beechwood, John Sheehan, is the wealthy son of the owner of L. Knife & Sons, Boston, MA, one of the largest Bud distributors on the east coast. Only craft beers in the "Bud House" are promoted during Beer Week. Most Wisconsin craft beers are excluded. The entire promotion is a joke, but the MJS and other publication play along because Beechwood purchases special adverting sections promoting the "event." I don't understand how they get the reporters to play along. They have no shame. What an embarrassment for our city and the real craft beer community,

Looking through the list of events, I see mostly all real American craft brews, so it doesn't seem accurate to say this is an AB-InBev event. I think it is false and somewhat bizarre to say "most Wisconsin craft beers are excluded." A quick perusal of the event calendar shows dozens of events featuring Wisconsin craft brewers.

You are both partially right. Unfortunately MBW is run by a distributor (most of the beer weeks around the country are run by more neutral groups). This means that only brands that Beechwood carries (it's the vast majority of the craft beer sold in SE Wisconsin) are allowed to participate. That does include quite a bit of Wisconsin craft beer though, including New Glarus, Central Waters, etc.

I'd have to agree with Cletis that almost all the beer in MBW is craft beer and much of it from Wisconsin, as it has been the past few years that I've attended events.

It does preclude local places like Lakefront though, which is unfortunate and goes against the very purpose of what the week should be - celebrating great beer all over the city. Beechwood might officially claim that anyone can participate, but you won't see anything from Bell's, Sierra Nevada, Lakefront, Tallgrass, etc. nor any other craft that the other distributors carry.